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Lobbyists' scandal has a K Street home

WASHINGTON — In the parlance of Washington, they call it K Street, almost as if it were a separate branch of government.

Capitol Hill is where Congress sits. The West Wing of the White House is where the president works. And K Street is where the lobbyists are - at least 30,000 of them.

Literally it is a street filled with modern office buildings that house the law firms and other companies that try to influence the outcome of decisions on Capitol Hill, at the White House and in scores of federal agencies.

Sixteen big lobbying firms have more lobbyists than the Senate's 100 members; this white-collar industry takes in more than $2 billion a year. No other country has anything of this magnitude.

But now K Street is at the center of a scandal that some of those who watch Washington for a living feel could be to the lobbying business what Watergate was to campaign finance and Enron was to corporate oversight.

"This scandal has the potential to have a huge effect on K Street for decades," said Alex Knott, who monitors lobbying for the nonpartisan Center for Public Integrity. "It will not only further shape people's opinions about lobbying, but could also lead to reform."

At the center of the scandal is Jack Abramoff, a lobbyist who pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges last week, accused of using third-party groups to pay for lavish overseas trips for Representatives Tom DeLay of Texas and Bob Ney of Ohio, as well as for senior congressional aides.

But many other lawmakers have run afoul of requirements for reporting their private travel and a score of them may be examined by federal investigators looking for possible illegal attempts to influence legislation.

Abramoff is a hustling Hollywood native whose charm, flamboyant deal-making and readiness to bend or break rules propelled him first to a K Street pinnacle and probably next will lead him to jail. The spreading scandal that now bears his name, and which primarily affects Republicans, yielded a new victim this week: a top lobbying firm, the Alexander Strategy Group.

The collapse of Alexander was reported Tuesday by The Washington Post, which said that nearly half its clients were leaving because of the unfavorable publicity linking it to the Abramoff scandal.

While Republicans note that Abramoff has Democratic entanglements, too, his far greater involvement with Republicans means that it is the majority party that sees most to fear as this drama, one of the worst congressional scandals in decades, is played out in an election year when Republicans already find themselves unexpectedly vulnerable.

The Alexander Strategy Group was one of many lobbying firms to have thrived partly through close ties to DeLay, who has stepped down as the No. 2 Republican in the House while defending himself against charges emanating from the scandal. The home page of the group's Web site identifies a partner, Ed Buckham, as former chief of staff to DeLay.

K Street has taken on a lopsidedly Republican cast in recent years - much of this DeLay's doing - and this has paralleled and been partly fueled by a dramatic overall growth in the lobbying industry.

The industry has nearly doubled in the past decade, partly a simple reflection of growth in government - notably of the military and security-related branches since 2001 - and of spreading government regulation. There are more targets of concern for the businesses and interest groups that look to K Street to get their voices heard in Washington.

Abramoff's liberal dispensation of sports and cultural tickets, his financing (often indirectly) of congressmen's campaigns and foreign travel are not entirely new to an industry once known for providing "booze, broads and beefsteaks."

And the fact is, lobbying in Washington is a constitutionally protected activity, assured by the right of citizens to petition their government for redress of grievances.

But Abramoff, according to his admissions as part of a plea agreement, has been linked to some particularly brazen efforts to influence opinion, which - thanks to their e-mail trail - have been damningly well-documented.